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The History of Literature #384 – A Writer’s Tools – Top 10 Literary Terms and Devices | PLUS F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Writing Advice
Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters’ Club, joins Jacke to select the top 10 literary terms and devices of all time. PLUS Jacke reads a letter to a young writer from F. Scott Fitzgerald. Additional listening ideas: Fan of Fitzgerald? Try our episode on The Great Gatsby or revisit the time Jacke and Mike looked for 10 Continue reading
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The History of Literature #383 – The Radical Woman Who Wrote ‘Goodnight Moon’ – The Story of Margaret Wise Brown (with the New Yorker’s Anna Holmes)
“Goodnight comb and goodnight brush…And goodnight to the old lady whispering hush…Goodnight moon..” Telling the “story” of a darkening room at bedtime, Goodnight Moon (1947) has gone from near obscurity to selling close to a million copies a year. But if you thought – as Jacke did – that the author of this odd, quiet book was Continue reading
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The History of Literature #382 – Forbidden Victorian Love (with Mimi Matthews) | The Poet Who Hated Love | Does Margot Still Love Boswell and Johnson
Love is all around! On podcasts as well as holidays… In this episode, Jacke talks to USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews about her love for the Victorian era and how that fueled her latest work, the historical romance The Siren of Sussex, in which an ambitious equestrienne teams up with a devastatingly handsome half-Indian dressmaker to take Continue reading
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The History of Literature #381 – C Subramania Bharati (with Mira T Sundara Rajan)
C. Subramania Bharati (1882-1923) is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Known to his fellow Tamils as the “Mahakavi” (“Supreme Poet”), his works modernized and rejuvenated Tamil literature. Bharati, who knew several languages, also wrote in English, and it is in these writings that one can see and appreciate his range of Continue reading
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The History of Literature #380 – Ian Fleming | PLUS The Black James Bond
Ian Fleming (1908-1964) always wanted to be a writer. Not an “author,” as he put it, and not someone in the “Shakespeare stakes,” but someone who wrote for money and pleasure. In developing his enduring character James Bond, he managed to accomplish both. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at the life and career of Continue reading
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The History of Literature #379 – Gwendolyn Brooks | Bharati Preview 2 (with Mira Sundara Rajan)
When the poet Gwendolyn Brooks “writes out of her heart, out of her rich and living background, out of her very real talent,” said The New York Times, “she induces almost unbearable excitement.” From her “headquarters” in Chicago, Brooks spent her life writing poems about the joys and struggles of the Black Americans on the streets Continue reading
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The History of Literature #378 – Liu Xinwu and the “Scar Literature” of China (with Jeremy Tiang) | Bharati Sneak Preview (with Mira Sundara Rajan)
In this episode, Jacke talks to Jeremy Tiang about his new translation of The Wedding Party, a Chinese classic contemporary novel written in the early 1980s by Liu Xinwu, one of the originators of what has been termed “scar literature.” PLUS we feature a sneak preview of our conversation with Professor Mira Sundara Rajan, who Continue reading
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The History of Literature #377 – The Brothers Grimm | Jeremy Tiang Sneak Preview
Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood… Oh sure, we all know the stories, but do we know their origins? What do they tell us about the “Germans” of the nineteenth century – and how do they compare with the fairy tales told in France or Italy, or Continue reading
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The History of Literature #376 – Why John Milton? (with Joe Moshenska)
Yes, John Milton was important, and yes, Paradise Lost has been part of the canon since the 17th century – but why should we read anything by John Milton today? Do we imbibe his poetry like medicine? Is it a slog through cerebral but sterile prose? Or is there something wilder, more compelling, more alive? Continue reading
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The History of Literature #375 – The Power of Literature | PLUS Reading Boswell’s Life of Johnson (with Margot Livesey)
Jacke had big plans to make this episode all about the poetry of William Butler Yeats…and then listener feedback to the last episode overtook him. So instead of lazing about on the Lake Isle of Innisfree, he returns to the subject of Sophocles and the power of literature, as introduced in the conversation with Bryan Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 